I started logging matches a while ago, coincidentally around the time the other spreadsheets you've seen around here popped up. I used the apex overwolf tracker as it shows lobby statistics, such as the rank score of people in the lobby, and I thought this would help add a somewhat objective statistic into the mix. The downside is that it's a bit inconsistent, however I've noticed that it still can produce rather accurate insight into what goes on with the matchmaker.
As a bit of background, I feel like I'm somewhat above average, I've played a lot of FPSes so I pick things up quickly, and my kdr is 1.43 in apex with around 2000 kills. Played on and off season 2/3, took a break and came back.
I recorded 50 casual solo queue matches as follows:
– During champion screen/jump phase, take a picture of the overwolf overlay. Of interest is the section which shows me the top 6 players in the lobby according to their rank score.
– Play as I usually do, try to stick with randoms and leave as little as possible.
– At match end, record the data presented by the game.
Sheet is here, as a or as a , and I've also prepared a .
Observations:
I first also recorded teammate rank and kills, however the plugin would frequently miss data for them so I stopped halfway. I have to say that I've only had teammate diamond divetrails twice in the 50 games, while they were much more numerous in the lobby.
'Difficulty' is a general indicator of how skilled the lobby is. 6 means the top 6 players are ranked plat (1 times 6) according to the plugin. 0 means they're all gold(0 times 6). 8 would be two diamonds and four plats (2 times 2 + 1 times 4).
Total damage is the sum of both my teammates' damage.
P. time is personal survival time.
There are a few gaps in the data, as the plugin seemingly failed to retrieve any data, but I wanted to include the results regardless as to not break the chain of games.
A third of my matches went entirely without kills, even from my team.
If we call less than 300 personal damage a bad game, that would tally up to 62% of 50 matches.
If we call 500 damage per match is a decent game, only 18% of games would fit.
From the graph, every time I'd have a decent game, the next ones would immediately hike the difficulty. Eventually the matchmaker would throw me into a really easy lobby.
My opinion is that if this is supposed to be skill based matchmaking, it's not working properly at all. The matches swing way too hard either way, you either die instantly (most of the times) or you run into the odd lobby that's far too easy. After these matches I started ranked and it felt entirely different, I'd see people make mistakes which I could punish, or I could actually make a mistake and notice it right away and understand why I got punished for it. In casual that didn't happen, I'd just die simply because the other guy shot me far quicker than I could. Let's not even get into how silly it is to have premades match with solo queuers in either game mode.
Considering all the dark patterns present in the monetization and the battle pass, and the unwillingness of the developers to discuss anything regarding the matchmaking, I'm pretty certain that EA is handling that side of the game and they've implemented the scheme. Either way I'm probably dropping the game again, I don't see the point in grinding for cosmetics in a game that actively punishes you for improving.
